Ohio safety staying open

Copley, Ohio, safety David Arnold is one of the better players in Ohio for the class of 2007, and he's already starting to pick up interest not just locally, but on a national level.

After picking up his first offer from Illinois about a month ago, he's now also getting attention from other teams like Syracuse, North Carolina, Ohio State, West Virginia, Kentucky, Cincinnati and several others. The first offer, though, from Illinois stood out in his mind.

"I was pretty excited about the offer," he said. "It's a Big Ten school and that's what I grew up around. I went out there and visited the campus.

"But I'm pretty open right now with everything. Illinois, Kentucky, Cincinnati, North Carolina and West Virginia are the main teams who are coming after me. I think Akron, Kentucky and North Carolina are talking about offering me a scholarship."

Arnold admits he grew up a fan of the Michigan Wolverines – mainly because his father, David Arnold Sr., played for the Wolverines in 1989. But to this point it sounds like the Wolverines are showing a ton of interest. This summer he's planning on camping at Ohio State, and he's not sure about the rest of his plans.

"If I go to a camp it will probably the Ohio State camp," he said. "That's the only one I'm really thinking about right now. Penn State sent me an invitation, too, but I don't think I'm going to make it out there."

In the mean time, he does plan to take an unofficial visit next week to Purdue during spring break.

"I kind of want to get the whole recruiting process out of the way before the season starts," he said. "I'm not really sure what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go, but hopefully I'll know by the time the season starts."

When the time to make a decision comes, he has a few things in mind that will be important to him.

"Distance wouldn't be a deciding factor, but it would be nice for my friends and family to be able to come see me play," he said. "I'm really going to look at education, distance, how comfortable I feel there, am I going to get some playing time, and is it a good football program. Those will be my main focus."